The Next Generation
by Miranda Tam
Summary: Oneshot. Ignores the crapalogue, because the crapalogue deserves to die. Since the media always has its eye on the children of the war heroes, wouldn't those children want to rebel a bit? And really, what would be a better way to rebel?


James Sirius Potter tiptoed down the stairs, silently hoping that they didn't creak. His parents were asleep, and would be for another few hours. This was his last chance to finish the plan.

"Careful," he whispered to his younger brother, Albus. "Let's go get Lily."

"No need." Their younger sister appeared silently. "I filched the cloak, now let's go."

The three siblings crept down the stairs and to the fireplace, covered by the invisibility cloak. Every time they heard a creak, or a whisper, or a groan, they froze in place, mentally begging their parents not to wake up. Finally they reached the fireplace.

"Remember," Albus whispered. "We're flooing to the Burrow."

Lily rolled her eyes. "I remember, Al. I'm not stupid."

One by one, they tossed the floo powder in the fireplace, whispering the address of their cousin's house as the green flames engulfed them.

As they exited the floo on the other side, they were met by their oldest cousin, Victoire Weasley. "What took you so long?" she asked quietly.

"Had to make sure that Mum and Dad didn't wake up," James replied, his voice the same volume. "Are the others waiting?"

Victoire nodded. "This way." She led them out of the house and through the fields, all the way to the grove of trees that held their quidditch pitch. However, instead of going to the pitch, she led them to the left of the field, deeper into what had become a small forest. "Don't get lost," she warned them, her voice now at a normal level. "There are still a few dangerous creatures in here."

"When will we get there?" Albus asked, beginning to get impatient.

Victoire grinned. "Look up."

The three Potter children looked up and gasped. In the tree above them was a large tree house, roughly the size of a muggle apartment.

"How do we get up?" James asked as he recovered from his shock.

Victoire walked over to the trunk of the tree and tapped a knot that looked like a grey capital 'H.' The tree trunk slid open, making a hole just large enough for the four to enter. As the hidden doorway slid closed and the now-hollow trunk filled with artificial light, Victoire spoke again. "The password is 'Omne quod nitet.' All That Glitters, in latin."

As soon as she said the words, the floor seemed to shudder, then slowly rise. "Teddy got the idea from muggle elevators," the oldest Weasley child explained as they rose. "You get down the same way, with the same password. Oh, look, here we are…"

The trunk slid open, and James, Albus, and Lily walked out, followed by Victoire. They looked around, taking in the sight of the log walls and hardwood floor. The room was lit with a warm yellow light, coming from a fireplace against the far wall. Three doors led out of the room, and there were tables, beanbags, cushions, and rugs scattered around the large room.

"Undetectable extension charm?" Lily asked.

"Yep," Victoire said, grinning. "Teddy did all of it, said that he was tired of meeting where anybody could hear us. There are some downsides, though. It's sorta unstable, so we have to reapply the sticking charms every week _and_ sort of spread out around the room, so we don't overbalance it." She glanced around, then bent down towards Lily. "Don't leave anything lying around, either. I left one of my books up here once, and when I got back, it was gone. I think the treehouse ate it."

"Where do the doors lead?" James asked, befuddled by the sheer amount of space in the seemingly small tree house.

"There are disillusioned walkways leading to other tree houses through those," Rose Weasley, eldest daughter of Ron and Hermione Weasley, said, walking in from one of said disillusioned walkways. "Welcome. That one–" she pointed to the green door on their left "–leads to our planning room, where we also have Hogwarts supplies, like the copy of the Map that Teddy managed to make. Thankfully, Ted didn't manage to mess up the charms in there, so that's where we store our stuff. The red one behind me leads to another house like this near the Scamanders', and the blue one leads to our small study/library room. The one to the Scamanders' is sort of weird, Teddy messed up the charms on it, too. You have to somersault through it or it turns you right around."

Dominique Weasley, Victoire's younger sister, walked in behind Rose. "Lorcan and Lysander should be here soon. Louis, Lucy, Hugo, and Molly are with them – somehow they got Uncle Percy to agree to a sleepover." Louis was Dominique's and Victoire's younger brother. Lucy and Molly were their cousins.

James grinned. "Are Fred and Roxy going to get here soon?"

"Yes, we are." Fred and Roxanne Weasley walked out of the blue room. Roxy was bouncing up and down. "Did you know that there's a spell to hang someone upside-down in the air by their ankle? And it's nonverbal?"

Fred rolled his eyes. "She's been like this since she turned eleven. I pity whoever her dorm-mates are." He glanced around. "Where's Teddy? And Scorp?"

The Weasley-Potter clan had met Scorpius Malfoy years ago. After the war, the Malfoys had apparently sold their old manor, citing too many bad memories. They had gotten a new, smaller house bordering a forest – incidentally the same forest that the Burrow bordered. The children had become fast friends, but had hidden the friendship from their parents. They had heard of the old blood feud, and didn't want to set Uncle Ron off on a rant about how he was going to trick them all.

Victoire looked to the corner of the room, where a circle with an X through the center was drawn on the floor. James recognized it as an apparition point. "They should be apparating in soon."

As if they had heard her words, Teddy Lupin apparated in, holding Scorpius's hand. Scorp stumbled a bit, then righted himself.

"Are we late?" Teddy cheerfully asked, his hair a bright aqua blue.

Victoire shook her head. "Lorcan, Lysander, Louis, Lucy, Hugo, and Molly aren't here yet."

Teddy sighed in relief. "Good."

Scorpius plopped down on one of the beanbags. "So, what are the odds so far?"

Albus looked at him, frowning in confusion. "Odds?"

"About which house we're going to get into," James explained. "People have been speculating a lot ever since we were born, but now they're making bigger and bigger bets. We want to prove them wrong, but not in a way that they'd suspect. So Teddy asks around for general opinion, then we do our best to get into the house they least expect. Teddy?"

Teddy pulled a small notebook from his pocket. "Let's see… Half of the people I talked to think that Roxy will be a Gryff, the other half think she'll be a Snake. A small percentage thinks she'll be in Ravenclaw. Nearly everyone thinks that James should be in Gryffindor. A few think Hufflepuff."

James pretended to pout. "What, I'm not smart enough for Ravenclaw?"

Rose snorted. "Course not, you're a boy."

"Hey!"

Victoire snickered. "There are a lot less boys in the tower than girls."

Teddy cleared his throat. "Anyway, it seems that they think that Molly's the one who's gonna break tradition – hardly anyone thought she would be Gryffindor. There are even odds for the rest of the houses, and a few think she'll be a squib. As if. You remember that time she turned Uncle Harry purple?"

"So, you know what this means?" Victoire asked.

James nodded. "I'll be in Slytherin, Roxy will be in Hufflepuff. Next year, Molly gets Gryffindor."

"And people seem to think that our lives will be like some messed-up soap opera," Teddy told them. "I got a few words about Scorp – They think he'll either go Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, with a small portion holding out for Slytherin."

The boy in question shook his head. "Wow, do most people have no lives, or something?"

"Or something," Victoire agreed.

The red door burst open, and Lorcan, Lysander, Louis, Lucy, Hugo, and Molly somersaulted in.

"I won!" Lucy squealed.

"No, I won!" Hugo argued.

Fred smirked. "No, we won! You're late."

"Sorry," Molly said apologetically. "Auntie Luna wanted to show us a Nargle nest. She gave us this." Molly brought out a small, fluorescent green egg. "She told us to give it to James."

James frowned in thought. "That's strange – you didn't tell her that you'd see me tonight, did you?"

Molly shook her head. "No, but she seemed to know already. Uncle Rolf says she's… what's the word? Clairvant?"

"Clairvoyant," Dominique corrected. "And yes, that describes Auntie Luna very well."

"So," James said, examining the small egg that Molly had handed to him. "What's it supposed to hatch into?"

"A…" Molly cocked her head to the side, trying to remember. "A Crumple-Horned Snorkack."

James blinked. "Ah. That… clears up a whole lot."

Teddy snorted. "Yeah. Clear as pumpkin juice."

"But pumpkin juice isn't clear!" Lily protested.

"Exactly." Teddy looked outside, then did a quick tempus charm. "James, Al, Lils, you should probably hurry. It's almost sunrise."

The three children yelped, then practically ran out of the tree house.

**Page Break!**

"Mum and Dad are going to kill us if they found out that we've been out!" James whispered frantically as they crept through the still-quiet house. "Climb into your beds, try to make it look like you've been there all night."

Albus and Lily nodded, then quickly tiptoed to their respective rooms.

James crawled under his covers, arranging himself to appear as if he had slept in his bed all night, then closed his eyes.

**Page Break!**

James ran through the train, Roxy Weasley following behind him. He skidded to a halt in front of an almost-full compartment, and Roxy slammed into him, making both of them fall through the door. They both stood up and brushed themselves off.

Teddy, Victoire, Dominique, and Fred were in the compartment with their pets.

"Are you two okay?" Fred asked. Uncle George had let him stay the night with Teddy, so he had arrived before Roxy.

Roxy nodded. "Yeah, we're fine. I can't wait! We're finally going to Hogwarts!"

"What wands did you get?" Victoire asked them. "You didn't say."

James grinned. "Well, you know that ever since the Second War, Ollivander Sr.'s been getting tireder. Well, he finally retired last year, and now his granddaughter's doing it. Guess who she is?"

"Who?" Dominique asked.

"Luna Scamander!" Roxy interjected excitedly. "Except now she's going by Luna Ollivander. Apparently, her mum was his daughter. Anyway, she uses a lot more different cores and woods for her wands. I got a 10'' palm wand with a core of the wing feather of an Abraxan!"

James rolled his eyes. "Ten and a half inches, redwood, hair of a Demiguise for the core. Roxy, did Uncle George let you have sugar?"

Fred rolled his eyes and nodded. "Probably. Honestly, you think that Dad would have learned not to do that by now."

Teddy rolled his eyes. "Knowing Uncle George, he did it on purpose."

Fred thought for a minute, then nodded. "You're probably right. Remember that time when he hid canary creams in all the food during Easter?"

James's eyes widened. "Roxy. That reminds me. We forgot something."

Roxanne looked at him, worried. "What?"

"Our beginning of the year prank, of course!"

Roxy gasped. "I can't believe we forgot it! What are we going to do?"

James started pacing in their tiny compartment. "Well, we can smirk and whisper at each other all night, periodically glancing at Aunt Minnie – "

"Remember," Teddy interrupted, amused. "She's Professor McGonagall now."

James sighed. "_Professor_ Minnie, then. Anyway, we can just act like we're plotting something, then _actually_ do something in a week or two when nobody expects anything!"

Roxy thought for a minute. "Okay. We should probably owl Dad for some pranking material."

Dominique raised an eyebrow. "I thought that you wanted to defy expectations and not prank anybody?"

"That's the best part," James said, smirking. "We're going to blame it on someone else."  
>"Who?" Victoire asked.<p>

"A different person every time," he explained. "People who everybody _knows_ would never prank anyone. Like Aunt – sorry, Professor Minnie, and Hagrid, and pretty much everyone else."

Teddy whistled. "If that works, you'll be remembered – anonymously, of course – to the end of time. But everyone will automatically assume you."

Roxy shrugged. "After a few times, we'll start framing the students, then us. Everyone will just assume that we were framed, too. The best place to hide is in plain sight."

"And your alibis?"

"Well…" James fidgeted. "Can you help us with that?"

"Come up with excuses for you?" Fred snorted. "No way. You have to come up with your own."

"No, I mean say that you were talking to us, or something," James clarified.

"Hm…" Victoire thought for a moment. "Sure. But it will get obvious after a while, if you keep being with us."

"Don't worry, we've got that thought out too," Roxy assured them. "Well, actually, James has it thought out. He's really good at strategy stuff."

Teddy checked his watch. "The trolley should be coming by soon…"

Someone knocked on their compartment door, and Roxy went to open it.

A small girl with straight, light brown hair stood outside. "H-hi," she said shyly. "S-sorry, but I couldn't help but hear you discuss pranks, and…"

"And?" James asked, slightly worried. If she told on them…

The girl took a deep breath. "I was wondering if I could help."

Roxy grinned at her. "Sure. I'm Roxy! Who are you?"

The girl smiled unsurely. "I'm Nerissa, Nerissa Colman."

Teddy frowned. "Do we know your parents?"

Nerissa frowned and shook her head. "N-no. I'm, uh, muggle-born?"

"Oh, okay, then." Teddy paused for a moment. "So, you said you like to play pranks?"

**Page Break!**

James looked worriedly across the Black Lake. He took a deep breath and turned to Roxy, being careful not to tip their boat. "What if–?"

"Everything will be fine, don't worry, you'll go to either the house you want or Ravenclaw," she interrupted him absentmindedly.

He gaped at her.

"Oh come on, I've known you since you were born," she told him. "I can read you like a book."

He grumbled a bit, and then turned to Nerissa, who was sitting behind him in the boat. "Do you know what house you're going to be in?"

She frowned. "D-does it matter?" she asked nervously.

James stared at her incredulously. "Of course it matters!"

Nerissa looked like she was considering something. "Why?"

"Your house is full of people like you, with the same interests and stuff," he explained slowly, as if talking to a small child.

"So, the wizarding world literally categorizes you based on personality from the moment you step into it?" she was beginning to look indignant. "That's ridiculous! It's like separating people into different groups based on their hair color, or eye color, or something else stupid like that!"

Roxy turned to face her, looking confused. "But… it's based on your _personality._ You'll be with people like you!"

"So you'll have the same personality for the rest of your life?" Nerissa rolled her eyes. "People change, sometimes a lot. Sorting them into categories limits them and exposes them to prejudice, and forces them into a stereotypical mindset."

James looked at her in confusion. "English, please?" he asked. "Not all of us were raised reading dictionaries."

Nerissa blushed lightly. "Sorry, my mum's a psychologist, dad's an encyclopedia maniac. Sorting people forces people into molds and doesn't allow them to express their creativity as much."

He thought about it for a moment. "That makes sense… sort of."

They fell quiet as they rounded the bend in the lake and saw Hogwarts. It looked beautiful, lit up against the starry night sky.

"Let's worry about that later," Roxy whispered after a moment.

"Agreed," the other two murmured in unison.

**Page Break!**

"Colman, Nerissa!" Called the Deputy Headmaster.

Nerissa took a deep breath, then walked up and sat down.

_Why, hello, Miss Colman._

Nerissa jumped a little. _You can talk. Okay, that's… weird._ She paused a moment. _Before you sort me, can you clarify something about the houses?_

_Of course I can. It is, after all, my job._

_What are the traits of the houses?_

The hat seemed to sigh. _Gryffindor is the house of the brave, Ravenclaw is the house of the smart, Slytherin – _

_Not that,_ Nerissa interrupted. _I knew _that_. I'm asking about the stereotypes. Are Hufflepuffs hardworking or dull-witted? Are Ravenclaws wise, smart, or know-it-alls? You get the picture._

The hat paused. _Do you know that at least half of the incoming Ravenclaws have asked me that question? _

_I do now,_ Nerissa replied.

_Ravenclaws are smart, wise and witty, Slytherins are cunning, sly, and not necessarily evil, Hufflepuffs are loyal and hardworking, and Gryffindors are strong and corageous._ "RAVENCLAW!" the hat shouted aloud.

Nerissa smiled and walked to the blue-and-bronze table to be greeted by Dominique and Victoire.

"Welcome to the house of the wise," the oldest Weasley greeted her. "Well, more accurately, the house of the people who like riddles far too much. What starts with an E and ends with an E yet only has one letter?"

Nerissa pondered it as the sorting continued. "An envelope," she replied, just as James was called up.

"Good," Dom replied. "Where do you think James will go?"

"No clue."

**Page Break!**

James fidgeted nervously as he watched the people before him get sorted. Nerissa's sorting had been long, and he had a feeling that his was going to be longer.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat shouted, sorting a small, almost undersized, boy.

The Hufflepuffs applauded. James smiled as he saw Teddy scoot aside to make space for the new boy.

"Potter, James!"

James frowned. No 'N' or 'O' students, which meant he was up next. He took a deep breath and walked up to the hat, ignoring the whispers that had broken out in the hall.

"Harry Potter's son…"

"… Wonder where he'll go…"

"… Gryffindor, definitely."

James sat down on the stool and the hat plonked down on his head.

The hat was silent for a few minutes, and James started to get nervous. What if the hat didn't sort him? What if –

_Mister Potter, have no fear, I will sort you. I was just taking a look at this interesting plan of yours._

James almost jumped. When he had imagined a talking hat, he hadn't realized what it would really be like. _Er, hi._

The hat began speaking again after a few short moments. _You have loyalty to your friends – Huffelpuff. You have courage – Gryffindor. But mostly you have a deeply ingrained sense of planning ahead and seeing your plans through successfully. And so I must agree with you, because you belong in "_SLYTHERIN!" the hat roared aloud, and James removed the hat and stood to face a silent hall.


End file.
